Making a great bridge, even with an airportBy Sam Adams
As The Oregonian noted today, in building a new bridge across the Columbia River that will serve as a gateway between two states and two cities, I am serious about making that bridge something to behold. It ought to embody everything that our region is and wants to be--ecologically sound, multi-modal and beautiful. So what could that look like, in spite of air and navigation constraints? Well, PORT's Jeff Jahn sent me to his posting on just what that could look like.  This one stands out, but there are other great inspirations. What do you think? Posted Thu, 07/17/2008 - 8:41am.
[[ Categories: Arts & Culture | Jobs & Economy | Livability & Environment | Office of Transportation | Transportation ]]
Why not just a functionalSubmitted by jim karlock on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 12:50pm.
Why not just a functional LOW COST bridge. I'll bet if it was a toy train only bridge, paid 100% by the fares, you'd like the current proposal. BTW, where is the outrage about that biker in serious condition after colliding with a truck yesterday? Oh, that's right he ran a stop sign. Thanks » reply
Bicycle Accidents reflect City Hall’s Protective Bike BehaviorSubmitted by Terry Parker on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 9:12pm.
On KGW news this evening: They set up a camera at SE 17th and Clinton and let it run. 27 out of 34 bicyclists (79 percent) pedaled right through the stop sign, some not even slowing down, while 20 percent of the drivers did not come to a complete stop. One bicyclist interviewed made the excuse she has better vision when riding a bike (as opposed to driving a car) and therefore didn’t need to stop. So Sam are you listening here or again going to turn the other cheek and support bicycle mayhem. Clearly four times the percentage of bicyclists as compared to drivers ignored the stop sign here. Furthermore, this is not the first time KGW or another TV station has set up a camera (one at the Ladd’s Edition Circle) and came up with similar results. Instead of those stupid bike boxes, it is past due time to get tough on bicyclists ignoring traffic laws, a mission you have never accepted. » reply
So Terry, do you supportSubmitted by GLV on Fri, 07/18/2008 - 3:26pm.
So Terry, do you support empowering PDOT employees to issue citations for moving violations? Or did you mistake this blog for the Mayor's? » reply
Bicyclist Arrogance Mimics City HallSubmitted by Terry Parker on Sat, 07/19/2008 - 1:30pm.
The arrogant attitude of bicyclists believing they are above the law, do not have to follow traffic rules and are doing everybody else a favor by riding a bike is kindled by Sam himself. He has built up bicycling to the point that it induces this kind of reckless behavior. His negative vocalizing about driving and anti-car agenda prompt the kind of incident that recently occurred on North Mississippi where a passenger in a car, a bicyclist himself, yelled at another bicyclist to get a helmet so the bicyclist on the bike turned around, followed the car and then keyed it when it was parked in front of a restaurant, which was then followed by a fight. Keying the car was malicious vandalism that instigated the fight, yet the vandal was let off with only a citation. When interviewed, the vandal downplayed the amount of damage done. There is a precedent to what I am pointing out here. When a follower of a white supremacy group killed a non-white person, the leader of the group was arrested, charged and convicted in court of the crime. The court basically came to the conclusion the killing stemmed and originated from the teachings of the leader, even though he was not personally involved. By being so pro bicyclist and so anti-motorist, the same can be said of Sam with his stacked deck citizen committees, bicycle buddies and loyal pedal pushing followers. Sam’s one-sided bias behavior encourages, stimulates and instigates other bicyclist radicals with the same mindset to take things into their own hands at their own level, and thus Portland has the bicycle mayhem and disorderly conduct by bicyclists, and anger by motorists we read and hear about in the media. To answer your question, no, it is not up to PDOT to write citations, (and I was making follow up comments to JK’s). However to bring about change, the Portland Police Bureau needs to do much greater job of ticketing bicyclists when they violate traffic laws, carry out an extra ordinary number of bicycle stings, and Mayor elect Adams needs to stop coddling the bicycling community like they are God’s gift to mankind. The latter must also include equally representing the 80 percent or so of people who make trips in motor vehicles (not currently part of Sam’s agenda) and making the bicyclists themselves more financially responsible for the specialized government services they receive by directly taxing bicyclists to pay for bicycle infrastructure instead of poaching the funds from roadway dollars and other taxpayer sources. When the bicyclists must pay for what they use, they will have greater respect for it. » reply
Terry, do you ever step backSubmitted by GLV on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 3:20pm.
Terry, do you ever step back and reflect on the utter absurdity of the things you say? Now might be a good time to do so. I think you'll discover the primary reason that no one takes you seriously. You just drew a direct comparison between a City Commissioner and the Grand Dragon of the KKK, and between people who ride bikes and a mob of murderous henchmen. Seriously dude, you are giving Sam WAY too much credit for a cultural phenomenon that he had very little if anything to do with. The way you idolize him is kind of disturbing. » reply
For clarification:Submitted by Terry Parker on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 12:32pm.
1. The comparison I was referring to as I recall was about a trial for a white supremacist that was held here in Portland and not part of the KKK. 2. The comparison was made to illustrate how the words, actions and mindset of a person in a so-called leadership role can influence illegal behavior by those (often followers) who have the same radical and/or shake them up perspective. Sam’s anti-car bicycle supremacy is being portrayed on the streets everyday by hard core bicyclists directly contributing to friction and conflicts between motorists and bicyclists. 3. There is no way I can idolize a person that manipulates process to achieve his personal goals, stacks the deck on citizen committees to support preconceived misaligned priorities then calls it transparent, and promotes a bias one-sided and inequitable transport tax policies that treat motorists as cash cows to pay for specialized infrastructure for freeloading bicyclists. » reply
Terry, you sound a littleSubmitted by Ron on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 9:47pm.
Terry, you sound a little unhinged my friend. As both a cyclist and driver, I find your comments offensive to the extreme. Sam advocates funding parity and he is quite correct when he states that bicycle infrastructure investment is a bargain for the price. You on the other hand put your energy into the more fantastic confrontations that road users have. You read the Oregonian too much I think. "Bicycling Community"? Sure, there are some very aggressive cyclists but there are sure as hell some very aggressive drivers wouldn't you say? As a parent of an active two year old I would rather have aggressive cyclists in my neighborhood ANY DAY! » reply
ResponseSubmitted by Terry Parker on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 12:38pm.
What is truly offensive is that while the street maintenance backlog in Portland grows, Sam is using transport tax dollars paid for by motorists for fancy couplets, streetcars, curb extensions, and widening sidewalks where they already exist in addition to paying for bicycle infrastructure the bicyclists want and expect somebody else to pay for. To answer your question: There are four times the percentage of bicyclists that routinely violate traffic laws as compared to motorists violating traffic laws. This has been proven over and over again by TV stations and the occasional police stings on well traveled bicycle routes. The majority of polls that address the subject with the general public also support a similar percentage ratio. While most aggressive drivers eventually get cited by law enforcement, aggressive bicycling is allowed to proliferate because people like Sam continue to be skeptics and disregard to the percentages of bicyclists involved, are submissive and sympathetic in allowing such bicycle behavior to continue, and are unreceptive to correcting the problem bicyclists through the enforcement of traffic laws instead preferring to spend roadway dollars to make accommodations such that bicyclists have superiority in all situations and don’t have to follow the same laws. One example of the latter is lining up all stop sings on bike routes so only the cross traffic, and not bicyclists, have to stop. That can also be called one-sides, bias and discriminatory. » reply
Why not just functional?Submitted by Ryan on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 8:28pm.
Too bad they built the St. Johns bridge is so extraordinary because that $1 per capita for those cathedral-like piers would be huge right how. Darn historic landmarks. Down with government corruption! Seriously though, just like the Golden Gate and Brooklyn Bridge, a beautiful iconic bridge can exemplify our shared pride and love for our beautiful state. A strong economic region needs as a pre-requisite a quality of life. Beautiful places enrich our families. We are better people for having access to the natural beauty around us. A new iconic bridge is no different. It can help demonstrate our values and our pride in our state. It attracts businesses who value these same things. Former Oregon Republican Governors have understood that Oregon's beauty is one of, if not our most important selling point. Today, we are living in this idea. Let's not sell ourselves short. I challenge our representatives to step and do the hard work of delivering a beautiful and fiscally responsible bridge. MAKE IT HAPPEN. If we do not continue to raise the bar, our children will find themselves below it. » reply
This one stand out?Submitted by Steve on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 9:21pm.
Once again Mr Adams assumes he has good taste or beleives what he is told is good taste - It looks like a dollar-sign sideways. You realize once you get sold a bill of goods by someone telling you a design is in good taste it will cost 2x as much as a purely functional bridge. Then again, it is not Mr Adams money, it is ours to help him feel good. May I quote Louis Sullivan - "Form follows function" Please spare us another chrome toaster like the tram cars. Its bad enough being laughed at for poor taste, but paying twice as much - that hurts. » reply
Functionality LostSubmitted by Terry Parker on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 9:44pm.
The primary purpose of the I-5 Columbia River Crossing must be one of functionality that brings the two sides of the river closer together. But wait, if the Portland City Council, the Adams Government and the Socialistic Metro Council have their dictatorial way, the bridge is now a social engineering program for Clark County. Functionality on the bridge will be compromised by restricting the number of highway travel lanes, drivers and small independent businesses will be hosed by tolls, and billions of dollars will have been wasted on a short sighted project that doesn’t address developing new fuel and more eco-friendly power sources for motor vehicles. So let’s at least make the bridge as pretty tribute to wasting taxpayer dollars just like some of the rest of the junk art that taxpayers paid for to plop on Portland sidewalks. Further compromises could include running only one track instead of two across the river for Max, and narrowing the down bike infrastructure to no wider than eight feet – or better yet, not including bicycle infrastructure at all(the pedal pushers are freeloading and not currently scheduled to pay for it anyway), Then maybe some extra money can be found to possibly super glue some junk on the side of the bridge to make it artsy. Why bother with financial accountability to taxpayers? Eventually the cost overruns will be transparent just like the tram. » reply
A living bridgeSubmitted by Collin Ferguson on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 10:49pm.
I totally support an artistic and iconic bridge. Some say an artistic bridge would cost too much, but I'll counter and say, "how much tourism dollars does the Golden Gate Bridge attract?" However, there are new "artistic" bridges out there that I think are duds including the Bunker Hill bridge in Boston. It is visually interesting, but its usability is limited. It does not appear to be inviting to pedestrians-- in fact, pedestrian paths are in the middle of the bridge away from viewpoints of the Charles River. Clearly, the bridge was designed for cars with little concern for pedestrians or bicyclists. My thoughts of the bridge imaged above are while it is visually stimulating, it lacks the eloquence of traditional bridges such as the Golden Gate or the St. Johns or a modern bridge like the Gateshead Millennium Bridge in London. But, I will only say that of Gateshead during the day because at night it looks like the bridge above, which I liken to a Techno music hall... too much energy for a bridge! The big question I would like to ask, whatever happened to brick and stone? Another criticism I have of the bridge imaged above is that there is too much cement! Or, too much cement of the same color. I need layers; I need depth! Variation never killed anybody. But, most importantly, if Portland is to become a sustainability leader in the world, designers of the new I-5 bridge should go for Platinum LEED, i.e. the new I-5 bridge needs to be a living bridge. Perhaps that is one way for the additional traffic on the new bridge to be carbon neutral, as there is plant life on the bridge-- community gardens, eco-roofing, etc. I would also encourage the use of cob. Cob is a sustainable building material that sadly is getting very little respect in the sustainability movement. So, perhaps City Repair should be consulted on the design of the bridge. There should be a MAX stop on the bridge itself so passengers can exit onto viewpoints. Or better yet, what if the bridge were to be a mixed use community with shops and living spaces? Perhaps the bridge in essence takes the form of a totem pole telling a story about our region's history, Portland today, and the future that needs to be. » reply
I-5 BridgeSubmitted by Paul Sutinen on Fri, 07/18/2008 - 9:54am.
I do not believe that there is any evidence that a visually pleasing bridge is necessarily more costly than whatever purely utilitarian designs might be imagined by other writers. A poorly functioning bridge, or a costly bridge is not a result of being conscious of how a bridge looks. Those would be results of NOT being conscious of function or budget. I am not aware of the Tram's cost overrun being caused by making it look as good as possible. » reply
DisagreeSSubmitted by Steve on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 2:39pm.
"I do not believe that there is any evidence that a visually pleasing bridge is necessarily more costly" It will be. From paying someone extra for an artsy design to the firm speaking German and the mis-commmunications with AMericans, there are several opportunities for screw-ups that will cost the taxpayers along the way. In addition, Mr Adams is not even a college graduate and we are trusting him already with an annual $2B CoP budget and he wants to call the shots on a $4B bridge. Does this make sense? I mean if he had some training in finance, engineering, heck even architecture, I'd feel a littel better. » reply
Blinded by Special InterestsSubmitted by Terry Parker on Sat, 07/19/2008 - 1:46pm.
“It ought to embody everything that our region is and wants to be--ecologically sound, multi-modal and beautiful.“ Just about every driver of a non-commercial motor vehicle wants to embody a free flowing bridge with an adequate number of lanes to handle all the traffic, and without having to pay a toll. However all that is being blinded by the sun and special interests on the Oregon side so no one could see a beautiful bridge even if it was built. » reply
Why does this look like aSubmitted by RedFlyer on Sat, 07/19/2008 - 6:59pm.
Why does this look like a cork screw?????? » reply
The irony is that theSubmitted by Lenny Anderson on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 10:17am.
The irony is that the bridges most in keeping with Portland's "green" image and aspirations are the ones that are already there, as in "reduce, reuse and recycle." Let's reduce VMTs and greenhouse emissions by re-using and retrofiting the existing structures for another 100 years. The only new structure we need is a lightrail, bike/ped and arterial bridge...that is the future. » reply
Wingnuts wrong againSubmitted by R on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 1:13pm.
Making the bridge attractive won't cost much more. I would gladly pay the extra $50-100K(a guess) for an architect to weigh in to make it look better than something out of the ODOT highway manual. Chump change. » reply
DisagreeSubmitted by Steve on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 3:38pm.
"Sam's lack of degree doesn't bother me; there are plenty of people working on this who do have the appropriate degrees" I thought we heard that excuse when the Tram went from $8m to $70M. My biggest issue is without some financial training, I don't think Mr Adams realizes the impact of his spending decisions. Every monumnet we build (PGE Park, floating sidewalk, convention center, CC Hotel) is going to be the thing to put Portland on the map. I am tired of govt officials using taxpayer money to memorialize themselves. Form follow function. » reply
The Numbers GameSubmitted by Terry Parker on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 12:52pm.
While Sam is concerned about how the "low number" of planes that use the historic Pearson Airfield will impact the design of any new bridge; the bigger issue is the cost of the bridge and how providing luxurious bicycle infrastructure for a "low number" of freeloading bicyclists (if they are not taxed or tolled to pay for what they use) will impact the overall price tag. » reply
A real "bridge to theSubmitted by Lenny Anderson on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 1:53pm.
A real "bridge to the future" would be for bicycles, pedestrians and hight capacity transit only...well maybe some local traffic. This would relieve peak hour pressure on the exiting historic spans, so they can continue to operate for another 100 years as we reduce our dependence on foreign oil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. » reply
ideas an actual bridge userSubmitted by Carly on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 5:18pm.
As a soon to be Vancouver resident who'll be commuting to Beaverton (I'm moving after I get married and keeping my teaching job in Beaverton, I have a few ideas about our yucky I-5 situation: » reply
I - 5 BridgeSubmitted by Ron Worthington on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 8:12pm.
Anything but another 205 BORE.Many years ago I lived in San Francisco and many many people came to town just to see the Golden Gate Bridge in person.Most if not all needed a place to sleep,food to eat,car to drive.Money in our region and jobs for us. » reply
Of course it is no fun beingSubmitted by Lenny Anderson on Thu, 07/24/2008 - 7:34am.
Of course it is no fun being stuck in the GP lane when the HOV lane is doing its thing. Solution: find a carpool partner and join the fun. Go to www.carpoolmatchNW.org to find another rider. » reply
HOV lanes are a safety hazard that add to fuel consumption.Submitted by Terry Parker on Thu, 07/24/2008 - 12:47pm.
HOV lanes DO NOT work well in this corridor. They simply create more congestion and gum up the rest of the travel lanes with stop and go traffic. Vehicles crossing over the full service lanes from the HOV lane to use an exit ramp, and vehicles crossing over to the HOV lane from an entrance ramp create a significant negative impact on the other lanes of traffic. Large tractor trailer motor freight rigs take considerably longer to get momentum again after stopping than do cars and light trucks. These big rigs would have to do it less often and would conserve more fuel if it were not for the crossing over of other vehicles to and from the HOV lanes. The crossover traffic to and from the HOV lanes also undoubtedly adds to the number of crashes in the corridor thereby making the existence of any restricted HOV lane a higher safety risk for all freeway users. The HOV lanes are far more of a political mindset statement and dictatorial restriction that cater to the special interests than they are a workable policy in this corridor. .All existing HOV designated travel lanes need to be returned to full service usage status with NO new HOV lanes created. » reply
How much tourist revenueSubmitted by Erik H. on Thu, 07/24/2008 - 8:11pm.
How much tourist revenue does the Fremont Bridge bring to Portland? How much tourist revenue does the St. Johns Bridge bring to Portland? How much tourist revenue does any of the U.S. 101 Bridges, all designed by a famed bridge architect, bring to coastal communities? How much tourist revenue does the Bridge of the Gods bring to Cascade Locks? Portland is not San Francisco. Stop trying to turn Portland into San Francisco. So what if the bridge looks like the Glenn Jackson Bridge? Anyone that wants an "iconic" bridge is welcome to fundraise for it. Does anyone remember that bumper sticker that reads "wouldn't it be nice if schools had all the money in the world, and the Air Force had to hold a bake sale to buy a B-2?" Wouldn't it be nice if all of our transportation needs were met - instead of special interests hijacking the process to favor politically motivated projects over the needs of the common Portland resident? Oh, wait, this is Commissioner Sam's website. He already is on record as being opposed to providing public transit to two-thirds of Portland's residents who use public transit, because God forbid it's a bus. » reply
i'm not keen on thatSubmitted by etching ray on Fri, 07/25/2008 - 11:25am.
i'm not keen on that particular design, but i do agree that if we're going to build a bridge, we should make it an artistic one! what i don't agree with is a toll: roads that are major connections to another place should NOT be tolled. crossing a state line is a major connection and we only have one other place to do that. I-5 is a major arterial route -- not just for portland/vancouver, but all up and down the west coast. tolls work best for roads that are alternative routes. keep I-5 toll free! » reply
bridge that gets people to & fromSubmitted by t on Sun, 07/27/2008 - 1:04pm.
How about a bridge that gets people to & from with less congestion. How come all the eco grennies aren't jumping up and down about the waste this would create. This isn't an art project. » reply
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iconic bridge
Yes he is totally right and I am glad you are entertaining the arts opinion on this matter.
A call for designs should ALWAYS take place when we are dealing with highly visible, huge budget municipal projects.
Portland must continue on its progressive path...
Damien
Artist and MFA at PSU